Apparatuses and methods for monitoring the steering activities of the driver of a motor vehicle in order to assess their quality and by means of the assessment to estimate the level of attentiveness of the driver and if necessary generate a warning, are known from numerous publications. DE 10 2005 012 196 A1 describes a method in which an image of the roadway lying ahead of the vehicle is recorded with the aid of a camera built in a vehicle, a lane boundary is determined in the image, and the distance of the vehicle from the lane boundary is estimated. It is assumed here that as long as the driver does not fall asleep at the wheel a zigzag movement of the vehicle is usually prevented and a measure for the intensity of the zigzag movement is almost zero. However, if the driver falls asleep during driving, it is assumed that the vehicle moves along a zigzag line so that in this case, a warning device should be actuated.
A problem with this known technique is that the driver “falling asleep for a second”, which is the cause of numerous accidents, frequently occurs unexpectedly and when it has occurred, the driver is no longer able to maintain a zigzag course but deviates directly from the lane. In such a case, no warning that could wake the driver and enable a correcting steering movement takes place.
Therefore, at least one object is to further develop the conventional method for assessing the attentiveness of a driver in order to improve its practicality and reliability. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.